Nearing the end of Camp

Summer Day Camp - We are nearly finished with our 6 week long virtual summer day camp. This year has thrown us surprises that have forced us to be innovative and flexible. As mentioned in the previous month's blog, we meet virtually Monday through Thursday, and have attempted to meet in person on Fridays. As of right now, with the number of positive cases surging in the Jacksonville area, we have decided to finish out camp completely virtual. However, the kids were lucky enough to meet up at the church for one more Friday to make giant bubbles, build intricate balloon animals, and oh yeah, MEET SOME ANIMALS FROM THE JACKSONVILLE ZOO! In review of the camp, it seems that the Camp in a Box idea has been a success! As the school year is right around the corner, we are proceeding with caution. There will be more updates on our plans for other programs hopefully next month.

BLOCK - Our middle and high school program has had its ups and downs. Currently, we meet every Tuesday night via zoom, and the kids that have been coming have been hungry for the word of God. When asked to think through questions they have about God, the Bible, and life in general, these students came back with thought-provoking questions, questions they had clearly been wrestling with in the past. 

"Why does God let bad things happen?"

"Are women allowed to be pastors?"

"What do I do with my anger towards someone who hurt me?"

We answered these questions to the best of our abilities and with Scripture that God had put on our hearts. The students soaked up every word. Praise God for their pursuit of the Lord their excitement to see what the word of God says! This is great news for the kids who have been attending, but it has been difficult to get more kids to join in on the virtual calls. With school starting up, knowing that many of them will be learning virtually at least for the beginning of the school year, will the kids want to get on yet another virtual call? With the summer nearing its end, what type of content, what type of programs, what type of activities will effectively engage middle and high school students to want to hop on a call? If you have answers, suggestions, or even any helpful input or experience in this, please email me at lilvollmer@gmail.com.

Nutritional Garden - About once every other week, I go to our neighborhood garden that 2nd Mile maintains and spend lots of my time pulling weeds, watering plants, and dreaming of what it would look like if the garden was flourishing. My creative juices start flowing in thinking of ways to improve a garden that almost seems too full of potential. Please pray that God would give me wisdom to discern what this creative surge is doing and why I'm drawn to the garden more and more. I feel a shift coming at some point, a positive shift. This could be because of the pandemic and being cooped up for so long, or maybe it could be the necessary slowing down that my life really needed to see what God has been doing in my heart.

And finally, I leave you with a video I'd like for you to watch. It's a series called "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man." A black man answers questions that some people might be too afraid to directly ask a person of color. He also brings guests in subsequent episodes to hear from others. In one he brings out interracial couples. In another he invites white parents who have adopted children of color. What I love about the series is that everyone that comes on has not only the ability to share their own personal experiences to the group, but there is a posture of respect and humility and willingness to listen of others. For me, it's hard to ask people questions sometimes, because it might expose my lack of knowledge or awareness, or it requires me to listen to someone else's point of view which may clash with mine. A great way to show you love and care about someone is to ask them questions and just listen. I encourage you to watch at least this first episode.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Quran and an armadillo from the zoo

Andre engaging in bubble-ology!

Olivia with a balloon octopus

Belief vs. Faith

BLOCK Middle and High School Program : For months now, we have been meeting via zoom call every Tuesday night. Some weeks we'll have nearly 20 people on call, others maybe like 5. It's difficult to know exactly the impact these meetings have been having, but I do know one thing--it's very apparent that the students that have been coming consistently are hungry to learn and grow. I don't remember me or my friends in high school being as wise and thoughtful as our students are about their lives, their faith, and their futures. In the past few weeks, we've been focusing on the ideas of belief in God and faith in God. As the students shared their thoughts about the difference between these two, we came to the agreement that faith is when your actions change due to your belief. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." James 2:19. What do you do with your belief? The BLOCK director used the analogy of a chair to demonstrate faith. Unless a chair looks rickety and unable to hold under the weight of a pop-a-squat, we rarely question its ability to hold us when we sit. Even now, I've been trusting the chair I'm sitting in to do what it does and I don't have to worry about falling. And how much more reliable and powerful and in control is our God! I sometimes find myself questioning God's goodness in showing up, despite his immovable and unchanging character. He hasn't changed, my trust in him has changed. How awesome those times in my life have been where the things of this world grow strangely dim when I turn my eyes and my walk completely on Jesus!

(BLOCK prayer request: We've had a difficult time reaching middle school students specifically during this new virtual world. Pray that more kids would be reached via zoom, or for God to open up other creative options to connect and build into his children)

Summer Day Camp : The year 2020 has forced us as well as many others organizations and entities to evolve and adapt and get creative. 2nd Mile has created Camp in a Box! Each week of camp, the campers receive a big Lowe's cardboard box filled with the weeks activities, supplies, and materials. Each week has a different theme (ex: nature, animals, water, etc.). Each day has a different type of activity (ex: art, Bible lesson, snacktivity, etc.). We just finished week 1 of 6 for our summer day camp. Monday-Thursday from 1:30-3pm, students ages 7-12 get on a zoom call where high school and college aged counselors lead different breakout groups for different groups of kids. Fridays, for now, the plan is to meet in person at the church while taking many safety precaution amid corona virus concerns. This past Friday, we learned about what parts of the plant different vegetables are. Honestly, even I learned some things, like broccoli is the flower of the plant and carrots are the roots of the plant. We also walked a couple blocks from the church to our neighborhood garden where the kids filled their painted pots from art day with soil and carrot seeds. There were about a dozen students in attendance and about 12-15 students on zoom calls. As the number of positive covid cases skyrockets in Florida and even more specifically, Jacksonville, we are operating knowing that we may need to be flexible with our schedule and plans for future weeks.

(Camp prayer requests : Wisdom with decision making, healthy students/counselors/staff, that the kids would have fun and learn, and finally that the love of God can be translated through us to the students.)

In other news... : There is so much happening in the country, even worldwide, concerning systematic racism, injustice, Black Lives Matter, police brutality, defunding the police, and so on. Before I share what I'm about to share, I just want you to identify the emotions or thoughts you feel when you read that list of topics. Maybe certain ones make you tense, maybe they fire you up with absolute support or absolute rejection, maybe there's lack of knowledge and a temptation to deflect or ignore these issues that seemingly don't directly and immediately effect you. Wherever you are on the spectrum, I hope you are able to self-diagnose why you feel the way you do. 

In regards to living in faith and not just belief, I'd ask you...do black lives matter? "All lives matter." Yes. Every human being should be treated with dignity, respect, and love. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. That, however, has not been the experience of the average black man or woman in America. I could recommend a bunch of shows, movies, books, and music to help you understand the generational pain that's lasted for centuries, but my question to you would be, would you be willing to take that step to watch, read, or listen? A couple of months ago I wrote in the blog about entering in to another person's pain, which is truly good for the heart. However, it's an exercise that is not so easily put into habit. I feel and fear that the further away from the freshness of George Floyd's death, the less important people not of color may feel their need or desire is to fight. (I've felt the same with covid stuff, it was everywhere in the news to begin with, then businesses start opening up, the initial doomsday mentality is gone, and positive tests skyrocket, but I digress. Wear a mask. Be decent.) Racism still exists even if there are not weekly protests going on or big headlines.

Anyways, if you have a belief that black lives do in fact matter, how are you currently walking that out in faith? If this is a hard question to pinpoint an answer, I'll ask perhaps a more encouraging question. If you have a belief that black lives do in fact matter, and don't know how to walk that out in faith, what initial steps could you take to walk that out in faith? Everybody is different, but probably a good rule of thumb is, be humble, don't assume you know everything, educate yourself, be a person who is quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. Missi and I recently watched the movie Marshall (not the one about the football team) and Just Mercy. Both about court cases in different eras. It brings to light the racism, biases, and unjust legal system prevalent in society. The documentary 13th will always be a recommendation from me. Movies are easier recommendations to make than books for me. Once starting a movie, it's hard for me to not watch the whole thing. Not sure which of these are still free to watch on Netflix, Prime, or Hulu, but take a look if you have those platforms.

I'll be honest. I feel a lot of things and sometimes struggle confronting these painful stories over and over again. But having the ability to hide from injustice and wrap myself up in my privilege is not something people of color get to do. This just reminds me of my weaknesses and reinforces just how strong Jesus must have been to enter in to the hurt and pain of those "sinners" that the Pharisees felt he had no business fighting for.

(My prayer for you, whoever you are, is this: I pray that wherever you are in your feelings, opinions, allegiances, spirituality, or morals, that God would give you more and more capacity and willingness in your heart and mind to understand, to empathize, and to love your black neighbors, whether you see them on the daily or not. I pray that your growing understanding, empathy, and love would be moved to words and actions. I pray that your words and actions would display the love that Christ showed us, laying down his life on behalf of another. Lord, be with those who have read this blog, those whom you've convicted to take a step, and know that what they do for one of the "least of these", they do unto you. Amen.)